Dr. Cantwell—by appointment of the Pope, Lord Bishop of Meath—has written a letter to Mr. Pollard Urquhart, M.P., to inquire how far he, the said Dr. Cantwell, is liable to the Income-Tax, inasmuch as he appears to be prohibited, by the Ecclesiastical Titles' Act, from returning himself under Schedule D as the recipient of any income by the title of Bishop of Meath. Mr. Urquhart, who seems to be the Mawworm to the Cantwell, answers, that he is rejoiced at any incident that has tended to make more manifest the absurdity of the Ecclesiastical Titles' Act; but that he is "unable to propound any solution of the difficulty, and, indeed, thinks it would require a very wise man to do so." In that opinion he may be correct; nevertheless the problem is very obviously soluble to Punch.
All that Dr. Cantwell—who declares himself "unwilling even to appear to resist any law, however unjust and oppressive"—all that titular Bishop Cantwell has to do—is simply to return himself as being in the receipt of an income in this country derived from an office which he holds under a foreign power. What may be the denomination of that office he need not state, unless he would wish to contribute to Her Majesty's Exchequer the fine of a hundred pounds, in addition to the lesser penalty of sevenpence in the pound.
It is not everybody that Punch would take the trouble of teaching how to place himself under Schedule D; but really Dr. Cantwell appears so very anxious to pay his Income-Tax conscientiously, that Mr. Punch cannot deny himself the pleasure of assisting the right reverend gentleman in the discharge of that agreeable duty.
Synonymous Slang.
The opinions of a certain eminent member of the Peace Society respecting the British Lion are calculated to render the phrase "Honour Bright," equivalent in popular estimation to "Hookey Walker."
THE DYE OF GUILT.
The Kentucky Legislature have resolved—
"That the keeper of the Penitentiary shall procure a suitable chymical dye, such as will stain the skin perfectly black, so that it cannot be removed, until time shall wear it away, and Nature furnish a new cuticle or surface."